PINEHURST — As ongoing drought issues continue to grip the region, area water districts are tightening up across the Silver Valley.

It was reported a few weeks ago that customers of the East Shoshone Water District were being asked to be conservative in their water use — a sentiment echoed by their fellow districts in the area.

Now the Pinehurst Water District has come up with some very specific guidelines for their customers to follow.

Those rules are as follows:

• Limit lawn watering to 15 minutes per area

• Do not water between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.

• Do not water every day

• Do not leave sprinklers or hoses running over night

• The filling of swimming pools is expressly forbidden

In a letter that was sent out to their customers the Pinehurst Water District was clear that they will be patrolling the neighborhoods and any excessive usage that they see could lead to them going to a metered watered water service.

With fire prevention and protection at the forefront of everyone’s minds, the district is treating the ability to fill the tanks of their fire engines as the top priority.

“We’re not on a full restriction yet,” a representative from the Pinehurst Water District told the News-Press. “We need to conserve, not run sprinklers all day or for hours at a time, and basically just use common sense when it comes to their water usage.”

The Pinehurst Water District is also asking that people get permission from them prior to any car wash fundraisers or anything of that nature.

For more information, please contact your local water district, including the Pinehurst Water District at 208-682-3611, the Central Shoshone Water District at 208-786-9141 and the East Shoshone Water District at 208-752-1174.